Paper clamp



Feb. 3, 1970 v KOJI KITAMURA PAPER CLAMP Filed July 24, 1967 INVf/VTOR I di'i'orrg United States Patent C) U.S. Cl. 24-67.7 1 Claim ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A clamp or holder for paper sheets or leaves comprising an elongated base plate and a clamping bar movable to and from the base plate, the paper being clamped between the bar and base plate. The clamping bar is carried on a. plurality of crank arms, one of which is one end of a torsional spring, the other end of the spring being connected to a lever that is pivoted on a pin around which the spring extends. When the lever is swung to its limit in one direction, it moves the clamping bar away from the base plate so that the papers or leaves can be clamped between the clamping bar and the base plate. During a portion of the movement of the lever the spring will be rotated around the pin which it encircles. When the lever is moved in the opposite direction the spring will rotate until the clamping bar contacts with the upper surface of the base plate and on further movement of the lever in the same direction, the spring will be tensioned and pressure on the clamping bar will be had by the influence of the spring. The lever is held in its tensioned, lowered position by the engagement of a lug provided on it with an aperture in an upstanding flange formed on the base plate.

It is an object of this invention to provide a clamp or paper holder of the kind described which will effectively grip and hold a stack of paper sheets or leaves; which will be provided with quick-release means; which will not require perforation of the paper sheets; which can hold sheets of assorted sizes and which will have numerous other advantages readily apparent to those skilled in this art.

Having the aforesaid advantages in mind and with these and other objects to be hereinafter set forth in View, I have devised the arrangement of parts to be described and more particularly pointed out in the claim appended hereto.

In the accompanying drawing, wherein an illustrative embodiment of the invention is disclosed,

FIG. 1 is a top plan view of a paper clamp or holder constructed in accordance with the invention, and with the clamp in its closed position;

FIG. 2 is a view of the clamp as seen from the right of FIG. 1, with the clamp in its open position;

FIG. 3 is a top plan view of the clamping lever;

FIG. 4 is a side elevational view of the clamping lever; and

FIG. 5 is a sectional View, taken substantially on the line 55 of FIG. 2, looking in the direction of the arrows.

The disclosed clamp or holder is particularly adapted for use in a so-called loose-leaf binder or for use on a clip board or in any other environment Where it may be desired to hold a stack or batch of leaves or paper sheets together. The device as shown includes a base strip generally indicated at 1 and which is of elongated form and includes a base plate 2 provided with spaced holes 4 located adjacent to its opposite ends and through which rivets or other fastening elements may be extended to secure the base strip in a binder or to a board or elsewhere as required. The base strip is provided with an in- 'ice tegral upstanding flange 3 disposed along one edge of the base plate 2 for its length and located at right angles thereto.

Struck from the base plate 2 is an upstanding lug 5 which extends parallel to and is spaced from the flange 3. A cross brace or pin 6 extends between the flange 3 and the lug 5. Also extending between the flange 3 and the lug 5 is a pin 7 which serves as a pivot pin for an operating or clamping lever 13. Said operating lever, which is channel-shaped in cross section, is shown in detail in FIGS. 3 and 4, and it has an ear 14 at one end, which is provided with a central hole 15 that fits loosely around the pin 7 so that the lever 13 is freely pivotal around the pin. At its opposite end the lever 13 is provided with a widened finger piece 16 which may be corrugated as shown for secure finger engagement. Projecting laterally from one side of the lever 13 is a lug 17 that is adapted, when the lever is in its lowered position as shown in FIG. 1, to engage with an aperture 18 in the flange 2 to hold the lever down in its lowered position and against spring bias.

With its convolutions encircling the pin 7 is a torsional spring 8 which has a lengthy end 9 fitting in the channel of the lever 13 and confined therein by an inturned lug 30 extending inwardly from one of the Walls of the lever. The opposite end of the spring 8, and which end is shown at 10, has an offset portion 11 extending into and pivotal in a clamping bar 12 which is raised and lowered by the rotative or turning movement of the spring 8 around the pin 7.

Near one end of the base plate 2 is an upstanding lug 23, struck from the base plate and pivotally mounted in said lug and in the flange 3 is a crank arm 22 which has its end portion passing through the clamping bar 12. A similar lug, shown at 19, is located adjacent to the opposite end of the base plate and said lug 19 and the flange 3 receive a pivotal crank arm 20 similar to that shovgn at 22 and which also extends through the clamping ar.

From the foregoing, the operation of the clamp will be readily understood. The raised position of the clamping bar 12 is shown in FIG. 2 and in which position the parts are located to receive the papers, and wherein it will be seen that the clamping bar is in an elevated position so that a batch of leaves or sheets can be inserted between the clamping bar and the upper face of the base plate preparatory to clamping the sheets between the bar and the base plate. After the sheets have been inserted as above explained, the lever 13 is swung in the direction of the arrow 31 in FIG. 2. This turns the coil spring 8 bodily around the pin 7 and moves the bar 12 down as indicated by the arrow 32 until the bar 12 comes into contact with the upper face of the base plate 2, the crank arms 20 and 22 and the crank shape of the spring parts 10 and 11 bringing the clamping bar 12 down against the base plate by a parallel movement.

As the lever 13 continues to be swung toward the left, tension is stored in the spring 8 and it will act to hold the clamping bar firmly clamped against the sheets with substantial clamping pressure and as the tension increases until the lever reaches its fully lowered position. At that time the lever, which is then under the bias of the spring 8, can be locked in the lowered position by the engagement of the lug 17 with the aperture 18 in the flange 3. The tension of the spring holds the clamping bar in firm contact with the sheets which are accordingly gripped securely between the bar 12 and the base plate 2. The lever 13, being also under tension, will be held in its down position by the engagement of the lug 17 with aperture 18. The lever 13 is provided with a notch 21 in order to clear the crank arm 20 when the lever is lowered.

When it is desired to release the sheets, the finger-piece end 16 of the lever is moved slightly laterally until the lug 17 becomes disengaged from the aperture 18 whereupon the spring 8 will urge the lever upwardly until the spring loses its stored tension. This then permits the lever to be manually swung for an additional distance toward the right as viewed in FIG. 2 or until it reaches the position shown in FIG. 2 where the pin 6 acts as a stop for it. This manual swing of the lever 13 acts to turn the spring 8 around the pin 7 and the crank-shaped end 10, 11 of the spring and the co-operating crank arms 20 and 22 will act to elevate the clamping bar to the position shown in FIG. 2 and thus free the sheets. The lugs shown at 24 and 25 may be used as stops to locate the sheets when they are inserted under the clamping bar.

The device is easily operated; the clamp when in its closed position very firmly holds the papers inserted between the bar 12 and the base plate. The clamping bar may be made in various lengths and widths according to the material to be held by the clamp.

What I claim is:

1. A clamp for holding sheets comprising, a base plate of elongated, L-shaped formation that includes a bottom strip and an upstanding back flange, a lug struck out from the bottom strip and upstanding therefrom and arranged parallel to and located forwardly of the back flange, a pin extending between the lug and the flange and disposed transversely of the plate, a lever arranged longitudinally of the plate and pivoted at one end on the pin, a torsional spring having convolutions encircling the pin, the spring being arranged for bodily limited rotative movement of its convolutions around the pin, the spring having one end engaging against the lever and tending to bias the lever to an elevated position, the other end of the spring beingolfset, additional lugs upstanding from the bottom strip of the base plate, a plurality of crank-shaped rods respectively pivoted between the latter lugs and the flange of the base plate, a clamping bar extending parallel to the base plate and carried by the second end of the spring and by an end of each of the rods, said clamping bar being brought toward the base to thereby clamp sheets between the base and the clamping bar by the descent of the lever against the bias of the spring, and interengaging means on the lever and the rear flange to hold the lever down against the bias of the spring.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 938,621 11/1909 Wagoner 2466 1,190,265 7/1916 Cooke 24-66 2,879,773 3/1959 Miyakawa 12935 X FOREIGN PATENTS 130,921 12/ 1932 Austria.

964,642 8/ 1950 France.

560,858 4/1957 Italy.

68,284 6/ 1951 Netherlands.

JEROME SCHNALL, Primary Examiner 

